Sunday, 10 February 2013

Dumbo (1941)

Dumbo

The first
memory I have of Dumbo is an album for collecting stickers from the Dumbo film
that my grandmother had. The stickers you would find in Rich’s coffee packages,
a particular brand of coffee substitute on the Danish market in the years of coffee
shortage during and just after the war. That would place the age of the album
to somewhere between 1946 and 1954. No American films reach Denmark during the
German occupation.Even back then in the
late seventies and early eighties this album felt ancient.

I used to
leaf through this album when I was a child. I had little comprehension of the
story from the stickers, but I was fascinated by the little elephant with the
big ears and his little mouse friend.

Then for
years Dumbo would remain a film I felt I knew of but could not really tell what
was about.

That
changed shortly after Christmas when I brought home a Dumbo DVD along with a
new batch of films from the List. The explanation is simple: My son loves
Dumbo. No, “loves” does not cover it. He is absolutely NUTS about Dumbo. I must
have seen that film at least a dozen times over the past month and those are
just the times where I was watching it with him.

It is
entirely amazing how this cartoon does not age. As an adult I find it adorable,
touching and beautifully made. As a child of 3 years my son shouts “oh no!”
when the pyramid of elephants collapse, he plays with his train during the
train scenes, the pretends he is hammering in spears with the work crew, he
dances with the pink elephants and he is laughing like berserk when Dumbo blows
bubble (okay, my son is also nuts about bubbles in general). I know no other
film that engage him like this, not even Pinocchio, his former favorite.

Dumbo himself
is super cute. This tiny elephant with big big ear breaks your heart. There is
motherly love from Mrs. Jumbo, both when she defends him against harassment
(from an equally big eared idiot of a boy) and when she comforts him in a cradle
made of her trunk. That scene in itself is pure Kleenex. Not an eye is
dry.We also get real friendship between
Timothy the circus mouse and Dumbo. An odd couple, but it works beautifully.

But Dumbo
is facing so much adversity, primarily due to his big ears and the intolerance
they generate in others. Besides the heartbreaking confinement of his mother
for defending him there are the mean aunts. Those other elephants are behaving
in an all too human and heartless way, deriding him, freezing him out and blaming
him for all the trouble facing them and his mother. We feel so sorry for Dumbo.

His career
in the circus is also a deroute. He is relegated to mockery in the clown show.
They are actually funny the clowns and they actually do recognize that their
success is due to Dumbo, but he is not included in their camaraderie.

Instead Dumbo
and Timothy are having their own party accidentally drinking champagne
resulting in the aforementioned bubbles and the most peculiar scene of the
film: the surreal parade of the pink elephants. The first time I saw this scene
I was thinking “what the f…?”, but I have come to love this part. This is an extraordinary
psychedelic trip. There are lines back to the classic Busby Berkeley musical
with surreal formations, but the scene has itself also been referred, notably
by Pink Floyd in “The Wall”. I can understand if children got scared from this
scene, I know I would have been, but my son takes it in stride and dances with
the elephants.

Finally
Dumbo meets the crows, a bunch of characters living a free life on the
outskirts of society. This is a clear reference to black culture, complete with
lingo, dance and song, to an extend I doubt would be considered political
correct today. But these characters are happy and though initially spiteful,
they become true friends and help Dumbo learn to fly and thus get back at all
his adversaries. Thus again help and support is found from the most unlikely side.

The drawing
is outstanding. It may not be as beautifully detailed as in Pinocchio, but the watercolors
used gives the pictures a beautiful and gentle hue. That helps the atmosphere
immensely. It is also notable that the animals are all drawn in detail with a
lot of personal character, while the humans are faceless extras with the
exception of the idiot boy who is clearly a villain. It is an interesting
angle.

The music
of Dumbo is also outstanding, both the general circus theme music and the
individual songs. “Elephants on Parade” of course stands out but my personal favorite
is “When I See an Elephant Fly”. I find myself humming it unconsciously. Pure
brilliance.

I am not
sure if this is the best Disney Classic so far, personally I like Pinocchio
better, but if you ask my son there can be no doubts: Dumbo rules.

Disclaimer on spoilers

If you have not seen these movies yet you may want to skip out on reading these commentaries. I am rarely holding back from revealing details from the movies that a proper review would hide under a spoiler tag. The reason is that these are not really reviews, but just my comments on the movies and some of the details which are most interesting to comment on are exactly the parts which will spoil the surprise if you have not seen it yet. So be warned.

About Me

In 2010 I started the project of gathering and seeing the 1001 movies listed in "1001 movies to see before you die". This is a blog to allow me to comment on them.
I am married with a son and geologist by training. Since 99 I have worked as a wind engineer at EMD (www.emd.dk) where I mostly work with wind studies and noise.